Dota 2
Dota 2
Why do Dota 2 players shave their heads bald at The International?
William Davis
Dota 2 players are shaving their heads bald left, right, and center at The International 2022, but why? One of the best parts of any traditional sport is the weird traditions of seasoned players. For example, Michael Jordan clapping off excess chalk before taking the basketball court, and Wade Boggs eating an entire chicken before every game of baseball. Esports is young enough that we don’t have nearly as many …
Dota 2
Prize pool distribution for The International 2022 revealed
William Davis
The International 2022 may not have the prize pool fans were hoping for, but at least they now know its distribution. Ignoring the money is important when judging the competition at The International, but more than $16 million is tough to forget about. While the prize pool is less than half of the previous years’, it’s still going to be the most lucrative esports tournament of 2022. Valve has finally …
Dota 2
Team Spirit eliminated at 16th from The International 2022
William Davis
Team Spirit is out of The International 2022 after losing a crucial best-of-one. Team Spirit is out of The International at 16th place after losing to BOOM Esports in the first round of the loser’s bracket. The reigning champion will leave the event with just $254,500, a far cry from its TI11 winnings. BOOM will now advance to the next round of the lower bracket, where it will face PSG.LGD …
Dota 2
Ramzes to depart Virtus.pro following TI11 LCQ failure
William Davis
Dota 2 superstar Roman “RAMZES666” Kushnarev has officially been released from Virtus.pro. Again. The Russian esports sponsor confirmed his departure on social media late on October 18, 2022. The move follows the team’s poor run at The International 2022. VP failed to qualify for the main event at the Last Chance Qualifier. The post-TI shuffle is an honored tradition in Dota 2 esports, but where Ramzes will end up for …
Dota 2
All the changes coming to the 2023 DPC after The International 11
William Davis
Valve has revealed several changes for the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit, and it paints a very different picture than the previous DPC season. The Dota 2 competitive scene will undergo major structural changes for the 2023 DPC season. The biggest change will be to tours, which will be just half as long as previous seasons’. The upper and lower divisions will also run sequentially. In addition, Valve appears to be …
Dota 2
Week 7 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Week seven of The International 2022 battle pass is here, so expect to see more strange behavior in your pub matches. This week’s missions involve dealing tons of damage to enemy units with your hero and controlled units and popping Magic Stick off cooldown. The reward for jumping through all these hoops is free levels in the battle pass towards all those flashy arcanas. As for Beastmaster players, The International …
Dota 2
The International 2022 battle pass bundle doesn’t offer second copy
William Davis
The International 2022 battle pass bundle has arrived in Dota 2, but longtime fans may notice the suspicious lack of a certain feature. The battle pass bundle is a wonderful occasion for Dota 2 players on a budget, and the 2022 battle pass version is finally up for sale. However, the usually joyous return of the bundle is soured by another unpopular decision by Valve. Unfortunately for pro players, the …
Dota 2
“Definitely not the underdogs” beastcoast talks about form before TI11
William Davis
Our interview with the South American quintet of beastcoast reveals the team’s expectations heading into The International 2022. With top-two finishes at all three tours and fifth place at both majors, South American team beastcoast seems destined for a deep run at TI11. But for all that success, the squad is still overshadowed by powerhouse regions like Western Europe and China. The fourth-place DPC-ranked team will enter the battle for …
Team Secret and Liquid qualify at The International 2022 LCQ
William Davis
Dota 2
Clement “Puppey” Ivanov has kept his legacy alive as the only player to attend every International by winning at The International 2022 LCQ. Team Secret and Team Liquid have officially qualified for the main event of TI11. Both squads failed to qualify for The International 2022 through DPC standings or regional qualifiers and have instead earned admission at the on-site Last Chance Qualifier. The ten players carry lots of history …
Nikobaby to retire from Dota 2 following Alliance roster drop
William Davis
Dota 2
Nikolay “Nikobaby” Nikolov has announced his intent to retire from Dota 2 following the Alliance disbandment, and that doesn’t bode well for his former teammates. The announcement comes less than two weeks after Alliance dropped its entire roster, which itself followed a catastrophic Dota Pro Circuit season. While no longer intending to play professionally, Nikobaby could still make Dota 2 content independently or with another sponsor. As for his former …
T1’s Topson and ana bow out of The International 2022 LCQ
William Davis
Dota 2
After a dual T1 comeback at The International 2022, ana and Topson have fallen out of contention at the Last Chance Qualifier. T1 has lost The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifier, and that means no third Aegis for Topias “Topson” Taavitsainen or Anathan “ana” Pham. This early defeat cements that no player will earn a third Aegis of Champions at TI11. It also follows a very high-profile roster switch made …
Dota 2 fans blast PGL for poor stream, in-game Papa John’s ads
William Davis
Dota 2
PGL has come under fire once again for frequent streaming issues at The International 2022, and Papa John’s pizza isn’t enough to quell the Dota 2 community. Dota 2 fans have come out en masse to criticize PGL for poor production quality at The International 2022 Last Chance Qualifier. Players have cited multiple audio issues, camera malfunctions, poor casting, and a generally disappointing atmosphere. Even casual Dota 2 fans have …
Will The International 2022 have True Sight? Pros are claiming to know
William Davis
Dota 2
True Sight is one of the best ways to look back at The International, but Valve may put the brakes on for 2022. Multiple professional Dota 2 players have claimed that Valve will not create True Sight for the grand final of The International 2022. While quieter rumors circulated before, the news was later affirmed by Johan “N0tail” Sundstein on the OG Monkey Business podcast. Valve has yet to make …
Week 6 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Week six of The International 2022 battle pass is here with more free levels. Another batch of missions means three more free levels for Dota 2 fans grinding the battle pass. This week’s selection is varied with multiple easy missions. However, two missions stand out as particularly difficult compared to previous weeks. Here’s what the missions require and which heroes are best for grinding them out. This first pompously-named mission …
Valve changes TI11 talent voice lines, adds direct purchase
William Davis
Dota 2
After massive fan backlash about The International 2022 talent voice lines, Valve has completely changed the system. After an outpouring of fan outcry and personal statements from featured talent, Valve has completely overhauled how to get talent voice lines for The International 2022. Fans can now directly purchase them to support individual talent or continue with the old method of unboxing them from capsules. When TI11 talent voice lines were …
Alliance drops Dota 2 roster after abysmal DPC season
William Davis
Dota 2
After missing The International and getting relegated to the lower division, the entire Alliance Dota 2 roster is out for 2023. As of September 30, 2022, Alliance has officially dropped its Dota 2 esports squad. The not-so-unexpected move follows nearly a year straight of embarrassing performances at major events. Alliance is a storied name in Dota 2, winning The International 2013 and competing at the top level until very recently. …
Week 5 mission guide for The International 2022 battle pass
William Davis
Dota 2
Week five of The International 2022 battle pass calls for a new guide for all six tasks and quests. If you love buying Black King Bar on intelligence heroes, week five will be a walk in the park. This week’s missions are all fairly basic with the backdrop of the standard “play matches” quest. However, understanding their quirks and features can help complete them as quickly as possible to gain …
Dota 2 fans appalled by odds for TI11 talent voice lines
William Davis
Dota 2
Talent will make The International 2022 come alive in October, but the voice lines will be a very rare in-game sight. To help support the many casters and analysts attending The International 2022, Valve has released a new sticker capsule with voice lines featuring their names and faces. Many Dota 2 fans are interested in the voice lines, but the odds of opening a specific caster or analyst’s voice line …
Dota 2 gets final 7.32c patch before The International 2022
William Davis
Dota 2
The International 2022 patch may be here, and it will massively shake up the meta for the yearly Dota 2 championship. Valve has released patch 7.32c for Dota 2, which will likely be the game version for The International 2022 next month. The official patch notes include more than 100 buffs and nerfs to various heroes and items, including many fan requests and bug fixes. Only two items were adjusted …
Did the TI10 True Sight leak a new model for Morphling?
William Davis
Dota 2
True Sight gives Dota 2 fans an inside look at the grand finals of The International, but the TI10 edition also gave a sneak peek at a potential Morphling makeover. The True Sight documentary series is a cornerstone of Dota 2 esports. The feature-length films show both teams emotions and strategies during the grand final of The International, the biggest esports event by prize money in history. In the case …
Few games have proven to have the resilient popularity enjoyed by Dota 2. The multiplayer online battle arena, or MOBA for short, has been among the biggest and most successful projects released by gaming giant Valve, and it continues to enjoy great popularity to this day.
That popularity has endured despite a great number of changes that have been made to both the game itself and to the communities surrounding it. The competitive title’s history reaches all the way back to another game created and published by another developer, but with Valve now leading the way, Dota 2 seems primed to last well into the future.
From Blizzard to Valve, Dota 2 continues to evolve
While know today as one of Valve’s key game properties, Dota 2 has its origins in a real-time strategy game developed and published by famed video game company Blizzard. One of the franchises that keyed Blizzard’s success and reputational growth in the games industry is WarCraft, which today is best-known for the popular massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World of Warcraft.
But prior to the success of World of Warcraft, the high-fantasy franchise was experienced through a series of RTS games. The third main title in that series, WarCraft 3, provided players not only with a great experience right out of the box, but also with the opportunity to heavily modify the game and its functions, and to play modified versions of the experience as custom games online with other players.
The most popular of these custom game modes was arguably Defense of the Ancients, or DotA for short. This custom game mode saw two teams of players face off against each other with strong individual champion characters, as opposed to building out complex home bases and developing broad armies of diverse units.
It was an entirely different way to play the game, and it proved so popular that would eventually give birth to an entirely new genre of video games: the MOBA genre.
The continuation of the original DotA became Dota 2, a project developed under the guidance of famed developer and publisher Valve. Flush with success from online marketplace Steam and its own franchises including Half-Life and Portal, Valve was more than willing to invest in this new and innovative game type.
The International sets Dota 2 apart
While there have been many other competitive games created and released since, including other popular MOBAs such as Riot Games’ League of Legends, Dota 2 has stood apart for remaining true to its roots and for massive competitive events like The International. First held in 2011 for the purpose of bringing together disparate competitive teams from all around the world with more than $1 million on the line, the esports tournament quickly grew into the biggest such event of each calendar year.
One of the main drivers behind that immense growth was the upwards trajectory of the tournament’s prize pool. Partially funded by Dota 2 players and esports fans, the prize pool for The International began increasing in 2013 and eventually ballooned to a massive total of over $40 million by the time 2021 rolled around. For the groups of players and coaches who climbed this mountain and won its top prize, it was a truly life-changing event.
For varied reasons, Valve eventually soured on running the event itself and on the idea of having so much money filtered into one specific event. Prize winnings were dropped significantly in 2022, and even further for the 2023 and 2024 events. But despite the prizes on hand no longer being quite so astronomical, The International still boasts a prize in the low millions, and it remains the biggest event on the Dota 2 competitive calendar and arguably on the greater esports calendar across all games.
